Love and Life
by Princessstarryknight
Summary: Natsu has always been dense when it comes to romance. But when he lets Lucy live with him and Happy so she doesn't have to pay rent, will he learn how to love?
1. Moving In

Today started out just like any other normal day at the guild. Natsu and Happy showed up at the guild hall, went to the bar, and ate their fill of food at a table. So far, nothing out of the ordinary had happened yet but knowing Natsu, she knew that things would probably get wild soon. Although he was a creature of habit when it came to food, everything else about his actions were purely impulsive. But little did the ravenous dragon slayer know, that today his spontaneity would set in motion a different kind of journey, one he's never dreamed of taking before, that would drastically change his life forever.

"Lu, you're already looking at another job?" Levy asks her best friend. "But you just got back from one yesterday, aren't you going to take a rest?"

"Oh Levy I wish I could." Lucy groans. "But my rent is due soon and I haven't made enough to pay it yet."

"Seriously?" Levy asks. "How is that possible? You've taken so many jobs already."

"I know but they've all been small. I haven't been able to land a big job in awhile." Lucy groans. "I'm not sure I'll be able to pay my rent this month."

"Aw come on Lucy, chin up!" Erza says, overhearing the conversation and walking over and punching Lucy in the arm. "No matter what you've always come up with the money to pay your rent somehow. I'm sure you'll be fine."

"Thanks Erza." Lucy replies with a small smile. "I know I'll be able to make enough to pay it this month, but all of this struggling to make enough money to pay it always stresses me out. If only I could find a place of my own that I could buy once and not have to pay for every month." She sighs.

"Hey I've got a great idea!" Natsu exclaims from the table he and Happy were sitting at near the job board, making the blonde jump in surprise from his sudden outburst. "I know a place where you can live that won't charge you any rent, and you don't even have to buy it!"

"Natsu, don't joke about that." Lucy sighs. "I know that the 'place' you're talking about is probably a trash can or some hovel somewhere and that's definitely not a place I'd like to live."

"Of course not!" Natsu laughs. "The place I'm talking about is a house that you can live in for free."

"Natsu I'm not that gullible." Lucy reminds him. "It's too good to be true, there's no way that there's an empty house lying around that I could just live in for free."

"Well it's not empty but if you don't mind having me and Happy as roommates you're more than welcome to come and live with us." Natsu says.

Everyone in the guild hall stopped what they were doing and a few of them even let small gasps escape their lips as they watched Natsu and Lucy.

Lisanna's face lit up in excitement and she turned to her brother and sister.

"Did Natsu just ask Lucy to move in with him?" She whispers.

"He definitely did!" Mirajane whispers back.

"Yeah! He's finally man enough to ask his girl to live with him!" Elfman shouts.

Lucy's face turned red with embarrassment and she screamed.

"Natsu and I are not dating!" She shouts back at Elfman.

"If you two aren't lovers then why would Natsu request that you move in with him?" Juvia asks from the table she was sitting at with Gray who had his arm around her but quickly removed it when he saw the guild's attention turn to them.

"Because she's my best friend." Natsu answers cheerfully. "And we've practically been living together for awhile already. Happy and I spend more time in her apartment than we do at our own place."

"That's because you two keep breaking in!" Lucy reminds him in an anger-laced tone.

"I know, and I know that you don't like it when Happy and I do that. So I want to make up for that by offering to let you come live with us. I figured that if the three of us are practically living together anyway, it might as well be somewhere that we don't have to pay rent for." Natsu explains.

"Well I can't argue with that logic." Lucy says and ponders the thought for a moment.

"That and he loooooves you." Happy teases.

She blushes then glares at the Exceed and he yelps in fear and flies to hide behind Natsu.

"So is that a yes?" Natsu asks shyly.

Lucy's chest felt warm. She'd never heard Natsu sound anxious about an answer from her over something he was so confident about like this. He must really be serious about this if he was feeling like that.

"Well, I mean...I guess a one month trial run couldn't hurt." She answers.

She screamed as Natsu wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up into the air.

"That's awesome! Happy, Lucy's moving in with us!" Natsu exclaims.

"Hooray!" Happy cheers and flies around him and Lucy.

"Are you sure you're okay with me living with you and Natsu Happy?" Lucy asks.

She knew that the Exceed always agreed with whatever Natsu wanted to do but she wanted to be sure that she wasn't going to be making him uncomfortable by living with them.

"Well it might be kind of a drag to have a girl living in our bachelor pad." Happy ponders out loud. "That kind of cramps our style."

"What 'style' could you possibly be referring to?" Carla asks, making Happy gasp in shock then go sulk in the corner.

"He's fine with it." Natsu answers for him while setting Lucy down. "He was just teasing ya, don't worry. Now let's go pack up your stuff and get you all moved in!"

And with that, Natsu grabbed Lucy's hand and ran out of the guild hall with her, followed by the cheers and applause of their guild mates, congratulating them.

"You don't have to congratulate us we're not a couple!" Lucy shouted back at them before she and Natsu left the hall.

"Wow, I can't believe Natsu asked Lucy to move in with him!" Levy exclaims. "Do you think this means he's in love with her?"

"If Natsu was in love with her, then I doubt he would even know it. He was raised by a dragon, and then he was raised by the people here in the guild and they never bothered to teach him about romance and he never expressed the desire to learn." Erza explains.

"But if he asked Lucy to come and live with him, that must mean he feels something for her right?" Levy asks.

"Perhaps." Erza smiles. "We'll have to wait and see how this plays out."

* * *

"Welcome home Lucy!" Natsu and Happy exclaim.

Lucy held her suitcase and smiled, giggling from their greeting.

"Thanks guys. You're too sweet. And this place doesn't look as run down as I remember it. Have you guys actually been taking care of your house?" Lucy asks.

"Hey we always take care of our place! It's been spotless for months!" Natsu argues.

Lucy arched an eyebrow. There was a moment of silence before the Exceed broke.

"Oh Lucy it was awful!" Happy wailed. "Natsu made me lift a bunch of heavy things and move them around inside the house to clean up so you wouldn't judge us when you came over! Every part of my body is sore!"

"Hey I didn't make you do it so she wouldn't judge us! I did it so that she'd be comfortable living here." Natsu argues.

"You want me to be comfortable?" Lucy asks and blushes a bit.

"Of course I do! You're my best friend and I want you to be happy." Natsu says. "If that means cleaning up around here a little bit more then I think I can manage that no problem."

Now her cheeks were bright red and she smiled at the ground to avoid having her friends see how much she was blushing.

"How sweet of you." She says.

"Ooooo she looooves yooooou." Happy teases.

Lucy instantly became more flustered and Natsu laughed.

"Maybe you should lay off the teasing Happy." Natsu requests. "At least when we're at the house."

"Aye Sir." He obeys.

"Okay then let's make this official." Natsu says.

Lucy looked confused as Natsu handed her a purple can of paint.

"What's this for?" She asks.

"For the sign." Natsu says and grins. "You're living here now, you've gotta add your name on it. Once you do, this house'll belong to you just as much as it belongs to me."

"Oh I don't think I'm ready to do that yet." Lucy politefully declines. "This is just a trial run remember? We should wait until after I decide if I'm staying or not to make things official."

"Yeah you're probably right." Natsu agrees and sets down the can by the sign. "But feel free to come out here whenever you're ready and add your name on. Now let's head inside!"

"You should carry her over the threshold. That is tradition after all." Happy teases.

"Happy that's only if we're marri-HEY!" Lucy exclaims as Natsu throws her over his shoulder like a bag of flour and walked towards the door.

"Natsu you idiot that is not how you carry a bride across the threshold!" Lucy scolds him.

"You sayin' you're my bride?" Natsu asks Lucy, confused.

Lucy's face turned bright red.

"Oooo Natsu she wants to marry you!" Happy teases.

Lucy growled at the Exceed. His smirk turned into a look of fear and he gulped.

"Natsu I think I'm having second thoughts about Lucy living with us." Happy says.

"Well then stop thinking a second time." Natsu answers.

Lucy gasped as Natsu re-adjusted her so he was now carrying her in the proper bridal style.

"I hate seeing Lucy being stressed out over her rent. I want her to be happy, so I came up with this solution to fix that problem." Natsu says and smiles at her.

"Natsu..." Lucy says softly while wrapping her arms around his shoulders and looking into his eyes.

"Now welcome home!" Natsu exclaims and kicks open the door. "What do you think?"

Lucy was pleasantly surprised. The house wasn't in a huge disarray like it was the first time she came to visit. It was actually pretty neat and tidy. Natsu had done a pretty decent job at taking care of it from what she could see.

"Wow, this is...actually pretty nice." She says and smiles.

Natsu sets her down and she takes a moment to look around. It looked like she'd have enough space for her stuff. Natsu had done a great job of cleaning the place out.

Then she realized, it looked like there was only one place to sleep, the hammock that hung from the tree coming out of the floor and on the beam of the loft.

"Uh Natsu, where's the other bed?" Lucy asks.

"What? Another bed?" Natsu asks. "Why would I have one?"

"Oh, right." Lucy remembers. "It's just been you and Happy living here until now. I'm sure we can find a place to set up my bed in here."

"Why would we do that? I thought you could just climb in the hammock with me and Happy." Natsu says casually.

Lucy's face turned bright red then her ears began to steam with anger.

"You expect me to sleep in your bed with you!?" Lucy exclaims.

"Well technically it's not a bed. It's a hammock." Happy corrects her.

"I don't care! I'm definitely not sharing a bed with you two!" Lucy declares.

"Why not?" Natsu asks, clearly not aware of why having Lucy in his bed with him was inappropriate.

"Because...you know..." Lucy starts.

Natsu tilted his head in confusion.

"I don't honestly." Natsu says and scratches the back of his neck. "But if you don't want to share the hammock I can just take the couch. Kind of a shame though. I was hoping I could use your chest as a pillow-OW!" He exclaims as Lucy slapped him in the face.

"Pervert!" She scolds him.

"He's so dense." Happy sighs.

"I'm sorry." Natsu apologizes while rubbing his cheek. "I forgot that talking about your chest makes you upset."

"Thanks for the apology at least." Lucy sighs. "But that does remind me, where can I change?"

"Anywhere you want, it's not like there's nothing I haven't seen before." Natsu jokes.

Happy let out another deep sigh as Natsu earned a slap on his other cheek. Natsu really knew next to nothing about women.

"Don't worry, I've got a sheet for you right up here that we can hang in a corner for you to change behind." Happy says and flies up to the loft.

Lucy looked up and gasped when she saw that cleaning up clearly meant Happy moving all of he and Natsu's junk up to the loft where everything was precariously piled and could tumble down on top of them at any moment.

"Uh, Happy that doesn't look too stable." Lucy points out.

"What are you talking about?" Happy asks. "It's perfectly fine!"

He grabs the sheet and tugs, sending a barbell falling down fast towards Lucy. She screamed but was unharmed as she found herself cradled in Natsu's arms protectively as he leapt away from it with her.

"Are you alright?" He asks Lucy, concern in his voice.

"Yeah, I-I'm fine." Lucy says softly, clinging to Natsu's jacket and scarf for dear life.

"Happy what the hell!" Natsu shouts. "You could have hurt Lucy!"

"I'm sorry it was an accident!" Happy apologizes and flies down to them.

"Thank goodness you had your big, strong, man to protect you." Happy teases the blonde.

"You almost killed me and now you're teasing me!" Lucy exclaims. "Didn't Natsu say you're not allowed to tease me in the house?"

"I'm sorry! I'm so used to teasing you that I forgot." Happy laughs nervously.

"We'll work on that." Natsu says. "And feel free to ask me if there's anything about this place that you want to change. I want you to be happy here with us Lucy. You're important to me, so I want to take this as seriously as I can."

"Wow Natsu..." Lucy blushed and felt her heart flutter. "That's really mature of you."

"Well what can I say, I'm growing up." He says with his signature smile. "Now you rest here while I carry in the rest of your stuff!" Natsu says and tosses her onto the hammock before rushing back outside.


	2. So Far, So Good?

"What do you think of Natsu and Happy's place Plue?" Lucy asks while she sat in bed with Blue.

After laying in the hammock for a bit to get a feel for it, she decided it definitely wouldn't be comfortable enough to sleep in. And the couch was too skinny for her. It was fine for sitting but in her sleep she'd roll right off. So Natsu and Happy set up her bed right next to their hammock. To which Happy complained afterwards that his poor little arms were broken after being forced to lift such heavy things.

"Puu-puun." Plue says and waves his arms while bouncing on Lucy's bed.

"Yeah the ceilings are a lot higher than they are at my place." Lucy answers Plue with a chuckle.

"But they also have a lot more dangerous things that could topple over at any minute stored above them..." Lucy adds as she glares at the two boys laying in the hammock next to her.

"Hey most of that stuff already fell down today so you're safer from the loft now than you were at the beginning of the day!" Happy declares.

"That's not a garuntee that I won't get hit with something!" Lucy shouts angrily.

"Relax Luce. I can garuntee it." Natsu says and turns over in the hammock to look at her.

Lucy blushes slightly upon seeing his full bare chest. She never paid much mind to the fact that he liked to sleep shirtless, but now that he was so close to her, and looking at her with a soft gaze that she only saw when Natsu was being genuine about his feelings. It was making her face heat up and her heart pound.

"I won't let anything in this house hurt you Luce. I promise." Natsu says with a small smile.

"That's a scary thing to have to say to someone. You should feel safe in your own home. There shouldn't be anything in it that can hurt you." She explains.

"Yeah which is why you don't worry about the stuff up in the loft." Natsu reassures her. "I'll just get Happy to move it down somewhere else tomorrow."

"Nooo! Please! No more! I'm begging you Natsu!" Happy wails. "I'd rather carry Lucy around all day and she's heavier than half the stuff up there!"

"Hey that's rude!" Lucy scolds.

"Happy don't tease Lucy about her weight. It's not nice." Natsu agrees.

"Thanks Natsu." Lucy says.

"It's not her fault she's so heavy that only someone strong like me can carry her." Natsu says.

He and Happy both scream when Lucy kicks them in their hammock and it spins over and they both fall onto the floor.

"Puu-puun." Plue sighs and shakes his head at the boys on the floor.

"Yeah you're right buddy." Natsu says to Plue as he fixes his hammock and gets back into it. "I need to be more careful of what I say around girls."

"Well then I'd be more than happy to teach you how to properly treat a woman." Lucy says.

"Puu-puun." Plue says and waves goodbye.

"Goodbye Plue, I'll see you again soon." Lucy says and gives him a little hug.

He hugs her back then waves to Happy and Natsu who also say their goodbyes before disappearing back to the Celestial Spirit World.

Lucy reached over to her bedside table for her hairbrush, then picked it up and began to brush her hair. She hummed softly as she did so, then looked over and noticed Natsu staring at her. But it wasn't in a creepy or mischievous way. He had a peaceful look on his face, but there was also a sense of curiousity about what she was doing.

"What is it? Is there something super interesting about me brushing my hair?" She asks him.

"I've never seen you get ready for bed before." He says. "It's interesting to watch you do something new."

She giggles before answering him.

"This isn't exactly new to me you know." She reminds him. "I brush my hair every night. It's just one step of my bedtime routine. But seeing how your bathroom doesn't even have a shower in it, just a sink and a toilet, I doubt you even know what a good hygiene routine is."

"Why would we need a shower when we have a perfectly good hose out back?" Natsu asks.

"You mean you two just hose yourselves down naked outside like a couple of animals!?" Lucy exclaims.

"Well I am a cat. So I am an animal." Happy reminds her.

"That's an excuse for you but what about Natsu?!" Lucy replies angrily.

"You know him well enough at this point, do you really bother asking. You already know the answer." Happy reminds her.

She sighs and smiles at the grinning boy in the hammock next to her bed.

"I suppose I really shouldn't have expected much." Lucy laughs. "I guess I'll just be using the communal bath at the guild hall for the month."

"Oh wait! I just remembered, we do have a bathtub!" Happy exclaims. "I'll go get it!"

He flies up to the loft and Lucy's face pales.

"No no Happy wait I- AAAAHHH!" Lucy screams as Happy pushes the bathtub off of the loft and it crashes through the floor of the main space of the house.

She peeks out from underneath her blankets where she was hiding and groans when she sees the tub sticking out halfway through a hole in the floor.

"Great. Now that makes two projects for me to do here..." She grumbles.

"Who says you're gonna fix it?" Natsu says. "This is Happy and I's house until you add your name on the sign, and he was the one that broke the floor. I'll just make him fix the hole after he sets up the tub for you."

Happy wailed in despair from how laborous that sounded and his wings went away as he plopped onto Natsu's lap. Lucy laughed from Happy's reaction.

Natsu looked at Lucy then gasped and blushed when he felt his chest tighten as he watched her laugh. He had always loved Lucy's laugh, but lately it was making him feel different for some weird reason. It wasn't like it was a bad thing, in fact he kind of liked this feeling he got whenever he saw her looking happy. But he had no idea what this feeling was and that was frustrating him. Maybe he just needed to go to sleep.

"Goodnight Lucy." Natsu says and lays back in his hammock.

"Goodnight Natsu." Lucy says and pulls the curtain in-between his hammock and her bed shut.

* * *

That morning, Lucy woke up to sunlight streaming in through the windows and shining on her face. She winced from the brightness then slowly opened her eyes when she realized it was morning. She smiled to herself and sat up and stretched.

_Wow, the first night here and I feel so well rested. Perhaps this won't be so bad after all. I should have more faith in-_

Her train of thought was cut off when she looked down and saw Happy curled up by her legs on her bed.

_Hmm... I guess you can only sleep in that hammock for so long until it's uncomfortable. _Lucy figures.

Then her eyes widened when she felt something much larger than Happy moving in her bed next to her. Her cheeks turned pink as she carefully looked over her shoulder and saw Natsu asleep in her bed, snoring away.

She jumped in surprise and embarrassment and immediately tried to scurry away but she was stopped when she felt something squeeze her hand. She blinked a few times, then pulled back the blanket and blushed when she saw that Natsu was holding her hand.

_Why is he doing this?_ Lucy wondered. _Why is he in my bed? Why is he holding my hand?! And why is the fact that he's doing these things making my heart pound! Thank goodness Happy's not awake to tease me about this._

"Natsu." Lucy hisses at him in a whisper.

Natsu's face scrunches up and then he groans.

_Good, he'll wake up and explain him-_ She thinks then her face turns bright red as Natsu wraps his arms around her and pulls her against him, his face smushed in her cleavage.

The sound of her slap echoed throughout the East Forest, along with Natsu's wail of pain that followed it.

Natsu rubbed the handprint on his cheek and winced in pain as he sat on the wooden floor next to Lucy's bed.

"What was that for?" Natsu whines.

"Because you were in my bed and you shoved your face in my boobs!" Lucy shouts at him.

"Ugh, do you always have to shout in the morning when you wake up Lucy?" Happy complains as he stretches and yawns. "We wanted you to be our roommate, not our alarm clock."

"Well I wanted you two to sleep in your hammock like we agreed but then I woke up and found both of you in my bed so I guess we all got things we didn't want!" Lucy complains. "Why were you two even in my bed?"

"I don't know. Maybe we both sleep-walked or something. But why's that a big deal?" Natsu asks. "Happy and I have slept with you in your bed before."

"Yeah but you guys always stayed on one side of the bed. You've never cuddled me before!" Lucy says and blushes.

"It was an accident!" Natsu reassures her. "I was asleep, I didn't mean to shove my face in your tits. I thought I was just snuggling a pillow."

"Really? Your face went in-between my breasts Natsu! You really thought that was a pillow?" She argues.

"Well...they felt like a pillow." Natsu says.

His gaze trailed down from her frowning face to her ample bosom, confined in her tank top.

"And they're almost as big as a pillow." He adds.

She scoffed and looked away from him with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Don't make fun of them like that, that's rude!" Lucy tells him.

"I wasn't saying it like it's a bad thing!" Natsu says. "I think it's great that they're big! I really like your breasts Lucy!"

There was an awkward silence as Lucy's face turned red and Happy's jaw dropped as he stared at Natsu and Lucy.

Lucy noticed that Natsu was still staring at her chest so she grabbed her comforter and covered her chest before frowning at Natsu.

"Natsu what the hell!" She shouts at him before chucking one of her pillows at him and hitting him in the face.

"What did I do wrong this time?! I was saying something nice!" Natsu exclaims.

"You can't just talk about girl's breasts like that! That's not the kind of thing that they want to hear from their guy friends!" Lucy explains.

"I'm sorry I thought I was complimenting you! I thought you'd be happy to know that I think you've got great boobs!" Natsu explains.

"Well I mean...I guess I am kind of glad you like them-" Lucy says softly before getting interrupted by Happy.

"Whoa what?!" Happy exclaims. "Lucy do you _want_ Natsu to like your boobs?"

Lucy's cheeks were bright red now.

"Uh...well- I mean-uh..." Lucy stutters nervously.

"Oooo Natsu, if she wants you to think she's pretty then she must loooove yoooou." Happy teases.

Natsu and Lucy looked at each other then blushed before turning back to Happy.

"Shut it Happy!" Lucy and Natsu both shouted and threw pillows at him.

They hit him in the face and sent him into the wall.

"Ouch." He groans and falls onto the floor on top of the pillows.

Natsu looked back at Lucy and saw she was still blushing. He was too. He scratched the back of his neck as he thought about what to say.

"I'm uh...sorry about that. I've never lived with a girl before so I'm not really too sure what I'm supposed to say." He says and flashes her his signature grin.

Lucy's shoulders slumped as she relaxed her hold on the comforter over her chest and easily returned his smile.

"I know. But I thought you would have picked up on some of this stuff by now since we've been friends for so long." Lucy says.

"Yeah, but I'm a pretty slow learner when it comes to this kind of stuff." Natsu admits. "So I'm really sorry if I keep upsetting you. I'll train extra hard to get better at it! I promise!"

"I'm not really sure what you mean by 'training' but okay! I forgive you for now." Lucy says and smiles softly at him.

"Great!" Natsu exclaims and jumps on her bed and holds her hands, causing her to blush.

"Get yourself dressed and I'll show you the best spot to pick berries!" Natsu says happily before letting go of her and getting off of her bed, closing the sheet behind him to give her some privacy to change.

* * *

This morning's incident was soon forgotten once the three of them were out in the fresh air in the woods. Natsu and Happy showed Lucy some blackberry bushes they found and Lucy's eyes sparkled with delight as she tasted one of them.

They went back to the house with two baskets full of blackberries and had them with some toast that Natsu made by heating up pieces of bread in-between his hands.

Lucy laughed hysterically when she looked at her slice of toast and saw the brown hand-print on it where it had been toasted. It was the weirdest looking slice of toast she'd ever seen.

Natsu didn't really get why she thought it was so funny, but she looked so happy as she laughed that he couldn't help but laugh with her. And Happy joined in too.

* * *

Then they walked to the guild together. And as soon as they swung the doors open and entered, all of the conversations stopped and everyone turned to see Natsu and Lucy enter.

After a moment of silence, the guild hall erupted into whistles and cheers of congratulations for the two of them.

"Hey Natsu survived a night of living with Lucy! It's a miracle!" Gray teases.

"Huh? Why is that so surprising Gray?" Natsu asks.

"Well I thought you'd be an idiot and walk in on her naked or in the shower or something and then she'd murder you but you made it back here in one piece so I guess you do have some manners after all." Gray mocks.

"Yeah, says the guy who's currently in nothing but his boxers." Natsu retorts.

Gray looks down then jumps when he sees he's in his underwear.

A few guild members join in and laugh at Gray before he lunges at Natsu and the two of them get in a fight.

Lucy watched with amusement as the two boys wrestled with each other before she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to find Juvia standing shyly behind her.

"Oh, hey Juvia what's up?" Lucy asks.

"Lucy, Juvia was wondering if Juvia could talk to you about something, in private." Juvia says.

"Uh, sure." Lucy answers and Juvia smiles.

"Good. Let's go to the library. No one's in there this early in the day." Juvia says and takes Lucy's hand and leads her there.

* * *

"So what do you want to talk about?" Lucy asks as she looks around the library.

Her hand rested over her keys, ready to grab them in a moment's notice in case Juvia was pulling some "love rival" jealousy scheme to get rid of her.

"Well, yesterday you moved in with Natsu. Juvia was just wondering how that was going?" Juvia asks.

"Oh." Lucy says and relaxes a bit. "It's uh, going pretty good so far."

"Really?" Juvia asks. "Are you sure?"

"Well, you know how Natsu is. Obviously it's not ideal but, I think with a little work it could work out." Lucy says. "And if not I'll just go back to living in my apartment."

"And then go back to pursuing Gray-sama." Juvia accuses and glares at her.

"Oh here we go again." Lucy groans.

"For the millionth time, I am not interested in him!" Lucy exclaims.

"How does Juvia know you're not lying?" Juvia asks. "You've been sniffing around Gray-sama for quite some time. And now after living with Natsu and seeing how horribly inept he is at being a good boyfriend, Gray-sama will suddenly seem even more dreamy to you."

"Oh for the love of Mavis! Juvia you're freaking out over nothing! If I was in love with Gray do you think I'd be living with Natsu!" Lucy retorts without even thinking.

Juvia gasps and holds the tips of her fingers to her mouth in surprise.

Lucy realizes what she just said and covers her mouth with both hands while her face turns bright red.

"Oh! Yes! This is a dream come true!" Juvia happily exclaims. "Juvia's love rival is in love with another man!"

"I never said I was in love with him!" Lucy shouts.

"But you admitted that if you had feelings for another man that you wouldn't be living with Natsu. This implies that you would only live with someone that you had feelings for!" Juvia explains.

"Or it means that I'm not interested in anyone right now and Natsu gave me an opportunity to live somewhere where I don't have to pay rent like a good friend and I'm just giving it a shot!" Lucy explains.

"Hmmm..." Juvia thinks and rubs her chin with her finger. "No that just doesn't seem likely..."

"But it's the truth!" Lucy exclaims. "I mean we're just sharing the same house. We're just roommates, you don't have to fall in love with your roommate."

"That may be true but as far as Juvia knows, when a man and a woman are living together that have known each other for awhile then there are definitely some sort of romantic feelings involved. Just like when Gray-sama and Juvia lived together for six months." Juvia argues. "And now we're happily in love."

"Yeah but just because you and Gray ended up falling for each other after you lived together doesn't mean that Natsu and I are going to fall in love." Lucy says. "I mean, Natsu and I have been best friends for awhile now. I think if I was going to fall in love with him it would have happened already."

"Well it's only been one day." Juvia reminds her. "It'll take longer than that for his feelings to change."

"I doubt his feelings ever will change." Lucy says. "Heck we even slept together last night and he doesn't think of me any differently than he did yesterday."

"You two made love!?" Juvia exclaims.

"What?! No no no!" Lucy exclaims and grabs Juvia's arms. "We definitely did not have sex! There was nothing sexual at all that happened that night. All he did was hold my hand."

"Aw he held your hand as you slept? How romantic!" Juvia exclaims.

"There was nothing romantic about it." Lucy scoffs. "Especially since he shoved his face in my boobs right after."

Juvia squealed again and her cheeks heated up.

"No it wasn't like that! Even though he did say he liked my breasts-"

Juvia shrieked again.

"Oh Lucy, that sounds very sexual to Juvia. And Juvia would know, Gray-sama compliments Juvia's body all of the time when we're in bed together." Juvia says.

Lucy's face was bright red and she covered her ears.

"I do not need to hear about you and Gray's sex life!" Lucy exclaims.

"Well you shared you and Natsu's!" Juvia retorts.

"Natsu and I don't have a sex life! We're just friends!" Lucy exclaims.

Then her anger and embarrassment fade as she thinks about that statement.

"I think...or...maybe we're something more now." Lucy says.

Juvia looked at Lucy's face and saw the light blush on her cheeks and the sparkle in her eyes. In that moment, it was clear with whom Lucy's affections laid. And Juvia was overjoyed by the revelation. She walked up to Lucy and took her hands.

"Lucy, Juvia is sorry for being so cold to you for all of these years. All of this time, Juvia was so blinded by jealousy that Juvia couldn't see that the man you really love isn't Gray-sama but Natsu." Juvia says.

Lucy looked up at her with wide eyes and Juvia chuckled.

"Juvia is so happy! Juvia can't wait to tell Gray-sama that you're in love with Natsu and that Juvia doesn't have to worry about you stealing Gray-sama!" Juvia exclaims.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Wait a minute Juvia!" Lucy exclaims as she grabs Juvia's coat. "Maybe telling Gray what I just said about me thinking of Natsu as a bit more than a friend might not be the best idea..."

"Why not?" Juvia asks. "You're all on a team together, he should know that you and Natsu are dating."

"But Natsu and I are not dating." Lucy reminds her. "So you'd be lying to him if you told him that."

Juvia gasps.

"You're right Lucy! Gray-sama wouldn't like it if Juvia lied to him!" Juvia says.

"Exactly! And besides, now we have this secret between us. And Gray can't know about it. Imagine how much more interested in you he'll be when he notices that you have a huge secret that you absolutely can't tell him!" Lucy explains.

Juvia's eyes sparkled as she imagined the fantasy.

"Juvia, I know you're hiding something from me." Gray says.

"Oh Gray-sama, Juvia does have a secret, but Juvia cannot share it, it would break the bonds of sisterhood that I formed with my former love rival!" Juvia answers.

"What about our bond of true love?" Gray asks and holds her in his arms and dips her. "Is that not stronger than friendship? How can I prove it to you so you'll tell me that secret..."

Juvia's fantasy ends and she squeals in excitement.

"Oh Lucy you're right! Gray-sama will be all over Juvia! Thank you for giving Juvia this wonderful opportunity! Juvia is so happy that we're best friends now!" Juvia exclaims and hugs Lucy so tight that Lucy couldn't breathe.

Then Juvia ran upstairs and disappeared. Lucy let out a long exhale.

"What in the world is going on?" Lucy groans. "I think that was the first time I told someone that I might think of Natsu as more than a friend! I definitely don't think of him as a lover but...maybe I'm on that path? I don't know! And what in the world does he think of me? He's definitely been acting strange lately. But he's always strange. Everyone in this guild is strange! Especially the dragon slayers. But who knows what goes on in the mind of a dragon slayer!" Lucy exclaimed and pressed her palm against her head.

"Wait a minute..." She says as she picks up her head. "She would know for sure!" Lucy exclaims and runs out of the library.


End file.
